Quincy
Jones (better-known for his production
of several Michael Jackson records, and
has worked with stars such as Frank Sinatra
and Ella Fitzgerald) was handed the task
of producing the music score for The Italian
Job as director Peter Collinson wanted
to give the pennyless musician a chance.

Quincy
Jones back in the 60's

Apparently
Quincy had no job, no money and he and
his wife were expecting a baby, but he
was talented. So producer Michael Deeley
brought Quincy and his family over to
England and set then up in a flat in Marble
Arch and was commissioned hired.

The
production team were worried about the
last few minutes of the film as the editing
was a little choppy and Quincy was credited
in saving the film by creating a music
score that pulled it all together.

Get
a Bloomin' Move On...
Highly regarded lyricist Don Black wrote
the lyrics for the two vocal tracks on
the score - On Days Like These and Get
a Bloomin' Move On. Matt Monroe sang On
Days Like These, as he was working with
Don Black at the time.

Music
Sheet

Get
a Bloomin' Move On (or The Self-Preservation
Society as it is sometimes referred to)
originated from old East End tunes like
My Old Man's a Dustman. Quincy had a fascination
with Cockney rhyming slang, he found it
very funny and apparently created it for
the amusement of the production team.

For
years many fans of the film believe that
Michael Caine himself is performing the
lyrics on the infamous track, and in the
book 'The Making of The Italian Job',
the author Matthew Field conducts an interview
with Caine and he confirmed that he is
on the track with many of the other 'lads'
from the film!

Quincy
Jones and Michael Caine became good friends
during the production and they still keep
in contact today, they even share the
same birthday, March 14th 1933!

Quincy
Jones went on to be a highly successful
musician, working on over 1600 titles
spanning five decades, for more info,
visit his website: www.quincyjonesmusic.com

Listen
to Get a Bloomin' Move On as it appears
at the end of the filmComplete with Caine's
line "Hang on a minute lads, I've
gotta great idea... err.. err"
(762kb)

Getting
Hold of a Copy...
Bagging a copy of The Italian Job
soundtrack seemed to be getting
increasingly hard, but we've discovered
that it's now widely available!tracked
down where you can